YAP1 expression is associated with survival and immunosuppression in small cell lung cancer

Immunotherapy is considered a major breakthrough in the treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC), although its anti-tumor efficacy is limited. With a high degree of malignancy and high heterogeneity, SCLC is difficult to treat in the clinic. A new combination strategy is urgently needed to further improve the efficacy of immunotherapy in patients with SCLC. By immunofluorescence, 100 SCLC patients in a local cohort were classified into the SCLC-A (high ASCL1 expression; n = 36), SCLC-N (high NEUROD1 expression; n = 32), SCLC-P (high POU2F3 expression; n = 14), and SCLC-Y (high YAP1 expression; n = 18) subtypes. Each SCLC molecular subtype represented different prognoses, tumor microenvironment traits, and immunotherapy sensitivities. Analysis of both the local and public cohorts suggested that the SCLC-Y subtype exhibited the worst clinical outcome ( p